Author
Topic: Fire Emblem entry

I've never gotten around to playing any Fire Emblem games and was thinking about picking up Fire Emblem 7 for GameBoy Advance. Is this a good place to start in the series? What's the consensus? ( I don't own a 3DS )

Sticking with the internationally released ones, yes. In fact, of all 5 FE games that have been released out into the west only the Wii one, Radiant Dawn, wouldn't be a good entry point given that it's a direct sequel to the GameCube one and does weird things with its plot.

Ninja Edit: Also there's another one in the pipes right now that supposedly better than any other game in the series, but its also very fanservicey and makes numerous references to every entry prior to it.

I'll reiterate what everyone else said: FE7 is a good place to start. I think that FE8 is a little too easy/forgiving; the only Fire Emblem games I've played to completion are 4, 6, 7, and 8, and 8 was my least favorite of the four.

Just familiarize yourself about Jeigan units (incredibly over leveled, advanced class units which will suck up XP instead of giving it to units that need it more. Don't use em unless you get yourself in a bad situation) and the basics of evolution (pretty much don't evolve a unit until it hits level 20 under most circumstances).

Well, that pretty much sums up my warning. FE7 was my first SRPG and I very stupidly did both of the above. Definitely left my units really underpowered near the end.

topic creator - what Akanbe means is DON'T RELY ON MARCUS. It's fine to use Marcus a little bit, but if you overuse him then he'll soak up EXP that other units with more potential could make better use of. Almost every Fire Emblem have one of those, called "Jeigans" because Jeigan was the first one.

The only other advice I'd give is to make sure to watch out for "special" units in the enemy lines other than bosses. Certain characters (Guy and Heath come to mind) start out as enemies, but if you talk to them with specific character they join. Almost every Fire Emblem has a swordsman that is recruited in that way, and they're usually called "Nabarls" since Nabarl was the first one. The first time I tried FE4, I accidentally killed the game's Nabarl (Ayra) without realizing it. The second time I tried the game, I recruited her and she became my favorite character.

A better way of putting the above posts is that in these games you're usually handed a comparatively powerful character right out of the gate to act as a crutch in case a problem arises that requires you to throw somebody at without worrying about losing them in the process. Oftentimes, these characters gain very little in way of EXP and stat gains per level in addition to coming 'pre-promoted' which means that they also don't gain the benefit of a class's 'promotion gains' which can give anywhere from a meager point in less than a handful of stats up to a couple dozen spread across the board and chiefly in the core stats of Speed, Strength/Magic, Defense and HP.

The reason why I'm going into this is that while your typical "Jeigan" can't make up the difference with their stat gains, a subset of the archetype exists that can. Unfortunately, Marcus isn't one of these but he's probably the best instance of the straight "Jeigan" since he does have fairly decent gains, but you'll be hard pressed to get anybody up to the 20/20 level mark without serious 'arena abuse' (this references the fact that EXP is a limited resource under normal circumstances but there's also a feature that occasionally crops up in an FE game called an arena that can be used an unlimited number of times in most cases with the 'caveat' that you're risking both the character and some of your funds each time you use it (and there are ways of mitigating that risk, especially in FE7)) thus Marcus is even harder pressed to turn his performance around. Of course this information will become pertinent in later games since the straight "Jeigan" archetype kinda tapered off after FE7 (barring the DS remakes).

3 is an extended remake of 1 (starring Marth). 4 and 5 take place around the same time in the same world (I thought 4 was really good, but 5 is legendary-hard and I barely advanced). I think 10 is a direct sequel of 9 (haven't played either one) and the DS game is another 1/3 remake.

7 is a prequel of 6; 6 stars Roy as its lord and Lilina as one of its mages, and 7 stars Roy's father Eliwood and Lilina's father Hector. Eliwood and Hector are best friends, but Roy and Lilina's mothers are the subject of some debate. I think Roy and Hector each have something like 3 potential wives in FE7's cast, including Lyn, who has at least two other husband candidates. I really like the FE 6/7 duology, so sue me.

And yes, FE is a pretty good series for shippers. Hooking your characters up with one another is a major part of gameplay in FE4 as well. Lots of forum chatter about FE character relationships? You better believe it.

And then there's FE11 which takes place across the two continents from the first three games nevermind all the other references to the rest of the series (some of which are massive spoilers for FE11 so I'm going to avoid going into details at this point). Plus, the DLC for the game lets you recruit various main lords from the prior games, so to head off the classic question of "Is Marth and Roy in this?" the answer is yes. (Also it too involves pairing up characters for their offspring like in FE4.)

Also, even without FE11's fanservice, there has always been some kind of implication that the series takes place across different continents within the same world. FEs 1, 2, & Book 2 of FE3 (Book 1 is just a remake of FE1 with some improvements and less filler) all take place shortly after each other, and FE11 takes place a couple thousand years beyond those (plus there are the BSFE chapters which come in right before FE1). In addition, FE5 takes place during the events of FE4, FE7 is a prequel to FE6, and FE10 is simply a direct sequel to FE9 to the point where almost everybody from FE9 shows up again (which led to an unfortunate case of cast bloat and a lot of the new characters didn't receive much if any characterization at all). However, most games have a similar mythology that crops up involving an age where dragons ruled the world but most of them died off/disappeared/???? and the few that remain either have their powers sealed within dragon stones or have become deities that occasionally try to destroy the world or help your own crew out in saving it from the former.

Either way, the reason why most people are saying to with FE7 is that it has an extensive tutorial as well as two alternate main campaigns and a healthy mix of new and old mechanics.

And then there's FE11 which takes place across the two continents from the first three games nevermind all the other references to the rest of the series (some of which are massive spoilers for FE11 so I'm going to avoid going into details at this point). Plus, the DLC for the game lets you recruit various main lords from the prior games, so to head off the classic question of "Is Marth and Roy in this?" the answer is yes. (Also it too involves pairing up characters for their offspring like in FE4.)

FE11 is Shadow Dragon. FE12 never came out of Japan. You're thinking of FE13, Awakening.

And then there's FE11 which takes place across the two continents from the first three games nevermind all the other references to the rest of the series (some of which are massive spoilers for FE11 so I'm going to avoid going into details at this point). Plus, the DLC for the game lets you recruit various main lords from the prior games, so to head off the classic question of "Is Marth and Roy in this?" the answer is yes. (Also it too involves pairing up characters for their offspring like in FE4.)

FE11 is Shadow Dragon. FE12 never came out of Japan. You're thinking of FE13, Awakening.

I prefer to think of them as FEs DS1 & DS2 since they're basically remakes of the two halves of FE3.

Or if you REALLY want to get technical then according to the series website, Awakening is referred to as FE14 (I'm guessing that the BS chapters is the missing entry which would make them the true FE5).

Personally, I started with Sacred Stones and jumped around from there. I don't know if it's because it was the first Fire Emblem I ever played, but to this day I still feel like it's the best. I really cared for all the characters...even the smaller ones.

But thanks to that game, I'll still buy and play any one that gets localized. :)